The unions endorsed BOTH men — EDLC + CSU 52, 2025 election

Original source (EDLC): https://edmontonlabour.ca/endorsements2025/ Original source (CSU 52): https://www.edmontonforeveryone.ca/stronger-together Retrieved: 2026-07-04

The two biggest labour endorsers in the 2025 Edmonton municipal election backed both subjects of this project.

Edmonton District Labour Council (EDLC): endorsed Andrew Knack for Mayor and Michael Janz for Ward papastew. Method: "Our survey asked questions about the issues affecting working people and those with responses matching closest to our position on the identified issues were endorsed" (informed by the Working Families Edmonton campaign).

Civic Service Union 52 (CSU 52), the ~5,000-member union of city workers, "Stronger Together" page: endorsed Andrew Knack (Mayor) and a near-complete slate of councillors including Michael Janz (papastew), plus Rutherford, Paquette, Olokude, Tang, Salvador, Maggay, Stevenson, Liu, General, and Wright. The page urges: "vote for the candidates who support investing in core services and the work that Civic Service Union 52 members do."

Why it matters (honesty): this cuts hard against any flat "they are anti-union" charge. The organized labour movement, including the very city-workers' union that endured years of wage restraint, still endorsed both men — because the electoral alternative (the Cartmell-aligned right) was worse. That is the lesser-evil ceiling the project's thesis names, not a refutation of the pro-worker record. It must be reported honestly, especially for Janz.